Under A Pale Blue Sky
by ToBeAJabberwocky
Summary: Were we really to believe that there was only one lab testing one vaccine that just so happened the be the first and only one that worked? Or have we just never questioned otherwise? Oneish Shot - Two Chapters . Possible expanding
1. The Z

* Placed somewhere at the end of season 2 . BEFORE Lucy is born . AFTER we have Hector as a friend . AFTER Cassandra is dead. AFTER the Nukes.

* One Shot in two chapters, I guess. There's more I want to put down but I don't want to make an entire story of it. So, Enjoy!

* * *

 **Under a Pale Blue Sky.**

It starts with a carnival on wheels.

A caravan of circus performers who will do what they have all always done in an art that is still relevant to the day. They will perform wherever the road takes them, in whichever place seems populated enough to set up and trade. This is how they make their lives in a world of little happiness and release. Two trucks with their beds covered and both towing trailers full of props and gear. The trucks drive between three vans that are full of people, and ahead of the frontmost van is the leader who drives the 18 wheeler. The zombie specialized, outward pointed plow mounted tracker trailer is driven by none other than ringmaster, PocketPosie. A man who is just as disgusting as the name leads him to sound. On the side of the cargo container reads, " _PocketPosies': Destination exhiBITEion."_

PocketPosie is a man as horrible as his name leads him to sound and is the equivalent to every part-time sideshow host, full-time addict carnie type of character written in horror stories. He's a top hat and tailor suited wearing man whose adjusted his looks too sharp spikes and strapped guns in place of sequence, microphones, and canes. He's towing the exhibit that contains the most precious of the groups' cargo. Cargo named, _Miss._ _Operation BiteMark._ The name comes from an announcement that PocketPosie had heard on a radio broadcast three years ago but was never able to respond to. The static voice of a Citizen Z was speaking to an Operation Bite Mark and was explaining an abomination that didn't match up to what he had tied up in the back of the trailer. For one, _he_ was actually a _she_.. And no way was _her_ name, Murphy.

Everyone needs trade these days and Operation BiteMark was his most popular attraction outside the gambling slots and racks of good booze. Everyone wanted to know her story and this had always been the trade he was best at. So, PocketPosie, with his 5 o'clock shadow and yellow rotting teeth, smiles with a cigar between his teeth, the smoke trailing out of the slightly cracked open window. They would drive until he would announce they would stop and set up. Most often outside of a civilization and on possibly populated roads. But, for now, he smiles as he drives his rig on into the sunrise, listening to the radio static to life.

It's gonna be a good day.

...

Things had been going rather pleasantly as far as pleasant could be in the almost three years since the apocalypse and things had become routine which was another sort of comfort these days. Mercying was a daily event as was travel and rationing, but their bags had been filled and a successful trade meant water, and a refill of medication and with that, some security. Murphy was near his normal insufferable but had settled into a notch in the hearts of the group. 10k had traded skins for ammo, and Addy added a new side weapon to her always favorite bat. A rotating spiked knuckle weapon that was curved sideways and allowed for a fast death to the brain in just a twist of the wrist.

Right now, they were split into two vehicles and were eagerly awaiting the next time a car looked like it held the slightest bit of gas. Unlikely though, they were on a long stretch of a two-lane country highway and the last of the available gas had surely been taken years ago. Hector would ride aside Murphy who sat behind Warren and with Addy in the passenger seat. Not extremely social or keen to the kind of conversation Murphy regularly supplied, the car ride was rather quiet aside from the staticing of changing radio channels as Addy twist the dial, listening for anything. She'd suddenly pass the noise of recognizable chatter and a flicker of a message and with a passing glance to Warren, she twists the dial back slowly.

 _Come one! Come All!"_ The car comes to life with the sound of an excited calling. " _To PocketPosies Traveling Destination Exhi-BITE-ion!"_ Paused for a chuckle. " _Just follow the signal and look for the orange tents, we have games and attractions and prices relevant to ALL situations. Follow the signal! Look for the orange tents! See Gladiators fight and bet on your favorites, see the daring tricks of Master Eight and his team! And of course!"_ A drum roll noise, " _Miss. Operation BiteMark! The Zombie Queen. The Controller of EVIL! Follow the signal now, look for the signs of the big top we all wish to remember from better days! Orange Tents! Come now!"_

But Murphy didn't hear what the others had, he didn't see the stiffening in the seats or he would have been one of them. He didn't see the looks that were passed but he would have passed his own around. Instead, his eyes were closed and his head was resting on the folded jacket that he was using as a pillow to rest against the window.

"Zombie _Queen_." Warren cocked her eyebrow at Addy before glancing behind her to Hector, then to the sleeping Murphy. "Is he okay?" She asks as she turns back to the road.

At first glance, it seemed like Murphy was simply just sleeping, but if you didn't look away so quickly and took some care and time to analyze, you'd see his body was twitching. His eyes and the edges of his lips would twitch. His shoulders would filch and his legs would stiffen and at times kick out just slightly.

"Murphy," Hector said, giving a slight push to the man's shoulder.

Nothing.

"Murphy." He tried harder with another, harder push.

Nothing. And with a look to Warren who was watching in the rearview mirror, Hector gave her a shrug.

"Hey! Murphy!" She yelled.

Nothing.

"Murphy!" Warren and Addy called at once.

And like a bolt that startled everyone, Murphy opened his eyes wide and jumped forward, his hands grasping the back of Warrens seat with a such a sharp start that Warren flinched too, but quickly corrected the twitch she made at the wheel

"What was that?!" She commanded and was quick to pick up on Murphys gasping breaths.

"Where are we?" He said in a startled rush, eyes darting out at all the windows at once.

"On the same road." Addy sighed, still twist around in her seat watching him. "We wanted to know if _The Murphy_ wanted to go to a carnival." She spoke in a joking tone, like a mother to a child.

"Pull over.."

Addy laughed.

"No, I'm serious." He urged, suddenly turning quite pale for his very blue shade. "Pull over. I'm going to throw up."

"Murphy." Warren tested.

"No. Really." He urged his hand already on the door handle.

Warren raised her eyes and cocked her head to the side as the man heaved and quickly, she pulled the truck over onto the side dirt road and stopped but not before Murphy was already halfway out.

It was a further fall to the ground than he had expected and he would stumble a bit but would keep the dignity of standing on his feet when a step later he would throw up with his back to the vehicle. With every heave, he would vomit away vital food and liquids but he couldn't stop even after his stomach was cleared... Sighing between two heaves of nothing, he hears the car pull up behind them and Docs voice come from out the window.

"He okay?" The old man yelled but wasn't given the answer by the man who was at this point regaining his breaths and uncurling his back, but instead, his voice would come from Warren who answered a simple and impatient, yes.

Standing up straight he was ready to turn to either side, arms raised in defeat once again, but it was as he stood upright did he see out across the flat, very dead and trampled farmland. It looked like a gathering of some sort of tall chain gated walls with brightly colored fabric tent looking domes.

"What is that?" He called to whoever would answer but instead, his voice brought people closer.

"That must be the carnival." Addy shrugged.

"The Carnival?" Doc asked, now standing behind the open door of the car.

10K would be heard above the rest and the group would turn to an approaching bright orange minivan that slowed to a stop. "Incoming."

With hands on their guns, the group turned and waited for whoever would climb from the vehicle.

Clowns.

Three dirty clowns, but still it was clowns who presented themselves with smiles from the back and passenger seats. With entertaining, rather foolish looking jumps towards the group. Both pulled out papers once they were close enough and pushed them forward towards the group.

"Come, come!" The woman said happily.

"Prices worth haggling for." the woman's mirroring male counterpart beamed.

"And prizes worth risking for," The third woman winked at Hector and flicked out her hip.

"And friends worth making." The first concluded with a smile at Murphy. A smile that faltered just slightly.

But there was something else in her eyes that Murphy was not alone in noticing. It was the same look as when you see something extraordinary that you had only seen once before and expected to never see again. A chilling hint of unfamiliar familiarity stumbled over the woman's red painted look but only lasted a moment though because suddenly the three would laugh loudly and without allowing any questions they ran off back to their car. With a revving of the engine and the slamming of doors the car was off and driving down the road.

"We need to go there." Murphy's voice would return them to the conversation, a very apparent urgency pushing him a few steps further off the side of the road and into the gravel.

A quick turn and he yanked the flier out of Warrens grasp before facing the tents again. The paper was basic and listed all the attractions, vendors, offers and finally, in the largest letters, the leading act.

"Miss. Operation BiteMark" He whispers to himself and his eyes narrow on the longest of the orange tents.

"We... We need to go there." He pushed himself from under the weight of the many eyes but gave a sharp nod as he started back to the truck.

With no real argument of why not, Warren shrugged at Doc who shrugged back with his arms before he headed back to the second van and to 10K who was waiting.

"All, right." She sighed loudly as she turned on her toe. "We're taking a small detour everyone."

..

It was a half mile later when the car turned into the dirt top parking lot and stopped in front of the bright orange tent set ups. They were not the only cars as they were not the only visitors as well as not the only teams. As they got out of the cars the entrance was clear as it was the only opening into the gated arena. There was a sign held between two stacks of hay that asked for weapons to be put away which they would abide by out of respects.

The tents created a circle that was closed in by gates that buzzed with threatening electricity. There are string lights that hang from the tents and twist down posts but it's still far too bright out to be able to see what colors they shine. It was fairly easy to tell who was a worker and who was a visitor because all the entertainers had face paint or masks on and all looked exactly as terrifying as one would imagine a zombie apocalypse style clown would look.

As the group slowly moved from their car, Murphy, who placed himself in his normal spot behind in the back of the group, pulled his hood over his head and slipped a pair of black sunglasses over his wandering eyes before his hands were stuffed in his jacket pocket. He had learned his lesson in staying concealed, and although he didn't like it, he did like this specific group he was forced to travel with.

"I hate clowns." Hector looked around as they walked up to the entry booth to be greeted by a male and female clown who mirrored each other exactly and wore opposite bright to dark outfits and matching machine guns.

"Welcome! Welcome!" They said in unison, "We have but one request. Please keep this area of truce and merry cheer. Keep your weapons down and holstered, and there won't be a single thing to fear."

"Okay." Warren nodded, a small smile playing on her lips.

"Thank you now, and thank you when it's time to leave. Please enter here and have a beer!"

With matching back flips the pair flipped away and the group, lead always by Warren would take their first steps into the carnival.

Inside the circle, right away there was live music. Flutes played along with drums and strings that played on a stage in the center of the circle while all around shops and games were faced inwards and were open for business. There were people playing games of chance while others were at trading stalls that included signs for food, medicine, ammo, apparel, and yes, gas. Each with a sign above their opening, it was the long orange shipping container that was the first thing they saw as they walked in.

 _Miss. Operation BiteMark. The Zombie Queen._ The banner waved in the light wind.

"That." Murphy nodded his head and Warren looked over her shoulder at him before turning to the group.

"Calm down." She urged before looking around the modestly full, gate protected carnival. "Let's get our sights and some ammo before we walk straight into the shipping container. Make sense?"

As Murphy mimicked Warren silently, it was then that a clean faced, slicked back haired entertainer approached. A round man, his suit fits his body and his teeth glisten like bleached bone.

"Welcome to my creation! To my _chez_ _magnifique._ The one, the only, The _Traveling. Destination Exh-BITE-ion!_ I am your ringleader, PocketPosie. How can I help you, good people, today?"

"PocketPosie." Warren chuckled.

"Why do they call you, PocketPosie?" Addy asked.

He smiled a bright white smile and shimmied forward at the hips and shoulders in a sort of bow.

"Because I smell good, and I'll make you feeeeeel good."

All in good heart, the man seemed overall pretty happy and good-natured. Clearly one for the business, his aura kept the air loose among such a hyper-vigilant society.

"Pocketposie?" Doc laughed nodding his head. "Like from the nursery rhyme?"

"Like the Black Plague. Yes."

"No one smells good in the apocalypse," Addy snorted.

"We," He beamed. "Have a specially designed shower system and the power to run it." A wide smile broke over his lips. "With heat."

"Heat?" Doc laughed, simply amazed.

"For rent, my friend." He smiled at the group, his eyes holding just a moment longer on the individual in the back whose head was cast down, a black hoodie shading his face.

"Well, how much!?"

"We're here to see Miss. Operation BiteMark." Murphy broke his silence just as PocketPosie looked back at the others.

Still wearing his bright smile, PockeyPosie slid his eyes right back up the group and landed on the shadowed faced man, whose blue tint was still visible enough to someone who knew what to look for. A familiar, chilling spark flicking through his eyes.

"And, uhhh. What's going on with your friend over there?" PocketPosie asked Warren, gesturing to Murphy.

His voice was just off enough to grab the attention of the ever perceptual group. Warren narrowed her eyes just slightly and reset her behavior.

"He's sick." She shot down any further conversation. "How much for everything?" She waved her hand towards the space around them.

"Our tent games are priced at the front poles. Your winnings are directed at what your needs are to the best of our abilities. We have food, drugs, meds, gas, and bullets. Most of everything else including the showers are barter stations but if you try and insult us, you'll be asked to leave."

"I'll be over there," Murphy said at first release and as Warren watched PocketPosie as PocketPosie watched Murphy.

"Thank you." She smiled at the ringleader. "You! Wait."

And Murphy would but would act harshly and impatiently. They had to know where each other was going, and like always, a plan had to be made.

"Well, I want a shower." Doc pushed once they had circled a private distance away from earshot.

"Me too." Addy sighed and Warren held her tongue as she looked at Murphy who was staring at her eagerly.

"You need to tell me why you're like this." She directed.

Murphy shrugged. "Like what?"

"Like you have a firecracker up your ass."

He had been pushing the limits of his discourse since he woke up in the car, his head on a swivel and his attention peaked. He was jumpy and acted more like a drugged squirrel than the sane person they needed him to be.

"It's nothing." He shuffled suddenly pulling back into himself. "I like carnivals."

"Than what's almost got you so pale you're almost back to normal?"

He was quiet for a minute, his weight switching back and forth between legs, his arms dug into his pockets. He was lying and had never really been a good lier but wouldn't say anything so all Warren could do was trust him.

"10K. Doc and Addy, you can go shower." She looked at 10K who nodded. "And I will go with Murphy and.." She passed a look at Hector who whose expression alone spoke his words tenfold, "...will come with us to find out more about this, _Miss. Operation BiteMark."_

The 18 wheeler was open in the back, it's pulled out ramp decorated and acted as stairs to the darkness within. Over the doorway, a red spray-painted ZQ is on a black, flapping blanket. PocketPosie would bring them over to the shipping container himself once he saw the group disband and he'd wave his arm outwards at their destination.

"Please, pay up to start the tour."

"What is, the tour?" Hector asked before he even touched his pocket.

"Miss. BiteMark is the first and only known survivor of not one, but six zombie bites. She stays here, as our main attraction making a comfortable, safe living. The exhibit includes Ms. BiteMark herself along with an exhibition of her abilities to control the zombies we all fear."

The display had remained over theatrical and his hands waved as brightly as his smile and eyes but Warren and Hector looked disbelievingly in return as they both felt the gaze of Murphy who looked at both of them with a fiery urgency. She had to do this or he would alone. Regardless of how much of a scam this was, Murphy was one who she knew would act independently regardless of danger. She knew the mood he was in and although she didn't understand it, she told him she would so that's what she would do. With a sigh and a heavy hand, she drops her payment as does Hector and Murphy and with a smile and a thank you, PocketPosie begins the tour.

"About three, four years ago now, the zombies overran human society but right before that, there was already a treatment in the works. As if the populous was always right and the higher-ups always knew what they did was wrong."

Out of the darkness of the box, dressed up human zombies popped out and began a dance fight between human looking dancers on the very thin ramp.

"It was a very dark time for the rest of us. A darkness only followed by Black Summer that killed off the last of the weakest." The humans theatrically fall off the ramp and onto the ground, "And we were there with you. Watching the sky filled with bombs and the mega hoards ravished the land... Afraid and hungry we were, tired of just trying to make a living. I was traveling like you, and was picking up the team I have now to grow the dream of stability."

He waved them into the trailer and although this was not a situation Warren liked very much at all, she followed Murphy and passed PocketPosie up the steel pull out the track through the waving tarp that blocked the view of inside.

"I don't like this," Hector whispered to Warren as Murphy's fists were almost white as he pulled himself up the walk and out of view.

"I know."

PocketPosies' smile shifted, suddenly growing dark as they stepped into the trailer.

"But there was one of us who was not afraid… There was at least one of us who a had taken a vaccine that would make her a god in this hell."

The top of the trailer was lit with light bulbs that hung from the ceiling in a single line and illuminated the inside of the crate bright enough for a comfortable feel. There was enough room to walk around and on either side, there were artifacts, pictures, and some documents but it would be all ignored by Murphy who was almost running down to the end.

The clear plexiglass wall that separated the trailer was a room that included a couch behind around table that faced the glass, a radio on a desk in the further wall and in the center of the floor lay a round, frayed matt As Warren inched closer, a single form became to fade into shape that grows upwards from this rug and turns into a figure that looked very much like a woman. Already standing at the glass when she's reached and Warrens jaw will drop when she's close enough to see the hew of her skin. As Murphy landed toes to the glass the two stare at each other as Warren and Hector slowed to a stop on either side. It wasn't just that the skin was blue but it was the same blue, if not darker with the dryish texture that resembled Murphy's skin. Pocketposie pulls the trio from their bewilderment with a heavy laugh that the container would use to create the sensation of rolling thunder.

"You like? No?" He nods at the woman as he lands against the wall, eyes narrowed her for a moment before turning back to Murphy and moving onto the others.

The womans hand has dropped and she watched Pocketposie as she stepped back exposing her battle scars a proof of her trials. That's about when Warren noticed her eyes.

One eye was the same orange lined cell formation that matched Murphys', a very personal trait that could not be faked but there it was. It was just her right eye as her left is full pale white eye of a zombie.

Warren would look between Murphy and Pockeyposie who would stand staring at the girl who stared at Murphy. She's only wearing a torn black shirt and very short shorts because this is what showed her wounds. Shes missing chunk from her right calf that looks healed but tainted black. Her right hand had the bottom three fingers missing, also healed. and her stomach had a few healed scar patches as did her shoulder with one in particular so close to her jugular it's amazing she surivied that at all. As she turned around, she also had three on her back.

It would be noticed that the woman who appeared in her late-twenties was also wearing a collar around her neck that had a small, green light that would flash occasionally. With a side look, Warren noticed PocketPosie held a rectangular device in his furthest hand which was when she decided she had enough of the scene and looked away, unable to keep her eyes on the clearly exploited woman. Murphy, on the other hand, couldn't look away from her, mesmerized or hypnotized, his eyes held strong.

"Ms. BiteMark was mentioned on the radio not to long ago, but I'm afraid such an agency of power got their information incorrect." PocketPosies arms were crossed now as he watched her watch Murphy, his voice rather blank.

"Incorrect?" Warren asked as her eyes were locked on the standing body before her.

"Well first, _he_ is obviously a _she_ and there is no way _her_ name is _Murphy_." He laughed but just at the end of his laugh he landed his eyes on the blue tinted man who watched his ward so intently.

Hector looked the figure up and down again, eyes holding on her calf. "What is her name?" he asked.

"I don't know. She won't tell us. We call her QZ for short."

"Can she talk?" Warren asked.

"Yeah. She just won't." His fist clenched the device.

By now the woman would look right at Warren for the first time, then Hector, and then quicker than the rest, she passed over PocketPosie. Back to Murphy, she takes her first steps back toward the glass with a limp that matched the missing patch of flesh. Her body was clear and exposed and as she approached she only became that much more exploited in a way that even had Hector glancing off uncomfortably.

The scene of pure flesh was overwhelming even though she looked clean and in decent health. No infections, her half-shaved head had her hair pushed over on one side but the closer she got the more definite the blue of her skin became. Warren's stomach flipped as she knew and felt that just from her face that this girl was not here willingly...

"Unfortunately, a heavy bite to the achilles means she cant move extremely fast but that's no worry for her."

"Why not?" Hector asked as he looked her over again.

A small squeak and Warren turned back to the glass to see the woman's toes were to the barrier, her eyes locked with Murphy who had yet to look away though had dropped his palm.

"Press that green button will you?" PocketPosie motioned to Hector who looked at the wall next to them. There was indeed a green button and as he extended his arm, he looked at the girl behind the glass who glanced at him casually before looking back up at Murphy.

With a nod from Warren, Hector pushed the button and a door inside of the cage opened and two rather large and very thin zombies stumbled into space, spitting and grunting as they looked around. But the girl behind the glass did nothing, not even flinch. She kept her hand up, palm pressed against the glass and watching Murphy who in that moment would raise his own hand to hers and press his palm against the glass.

Everything became too real when the zombies just stumbled through the room but stopped behind her shoulders, their teeth snapping at the air and grunting angrily but doing nothing to actually attack her. This was seemingly allowed to carry on for only a minute before she closed her eyes and with that, the zombies took a step back and went about stumbling across the room as if she wasn't there.

PocketPosies laugh echoed as Murphy stood straight-faced and pale, his hand now a fist, his eyes continuing to stare down at the woman with a growing panic, not for her safety within the cage, but what could be described as a personal rare bout of personal objection. A reaction neither Warren or Hector were used to seeing from him.

...

They left quickly after that and once outside Warren would beeline it to the car where Doc and the rest were waiting with Hector picking up the back in a slight jog and Murphy at her side. Their discomfort must have been more apparent than any of them realized because the group they approached frowned the closer they got.

"Everything okay?" A very clean looking Doc asked as he rubbed a clean looking black towel behind his head and through his hair.

"No," Warren answered as they all met by the front of the car.

"What happened?" Addy asked.

"Murphy was right." Hector leaned against the side of the jeep. "There's someone in there."

"In the trailer?" Addy asked.

"Yes," Warren answered as she looked at Murphy with a look that meant a few different things that all were in regard to the unspoken situation.

"Well, what is it?" Doc asked.

"It's... Umm.." She looked at Hector before looking back at Murphy. "It's another, _him_."

"What?!" Addy exclaimed rather loudly, throwing down her towel.

"Yup."

"Not like Cassandra?" 10K pushed nervously as he tapped his heels against the driver's side window from his sitting position on the roof of the jeep

"No. Not like Cassandra…" Warren crossed her arms. "PocketPosie said she was injected."

"Well," Murphy asked looking around like a worried meerkat, clearly no more comfortable. "We have to do something." He announced indefinitely.

"Woah. Woah. Woah." Addy laughed. "Aren't you the guy who has at least once, left all of us behind because _you're_ the mission? We don't have a fight here.."

"And, how do we know she's legit?" 10K asked doubtfully as he shifts his seat. "Citizen Z never mentioned another one of you."

"She passed the "zombie in the cage," test," Warren informed.

He paused, "it could have been a trick," 10K urged, looking over the heads of everyone and towards the long trailer.

"We also can't just leave _her_ with them." Warren looked at Addy who looked away nervously and rubbed the side of her head.

"Regardless of if she is the real deal, I refuse to leave her with these men and I say we act on that if for nothing else."

"Okay." Doc shrugged after a minute of silence passed between the group. "What's the plan?"

...

With only Hector, she would approach PocketPosie. She left Murphy back at the cars with everyone else, telling him to behave and not to run off. The advice she hoped the twitchy man would follow.

"How can I help you?" The ringleader chuckles.

"Can we talk to you?" Warren asked and the smile faulted just a bit.

"Yeah, sure."

They'd walk off to the side and Warren would drop the news.

"I'd like to take, QZ."

He laughed disbelievingly. "What?"

She kept her strength and looked the man who was growing more and more grotesque with his setting in anger.

"We're going to take QZ to California."

"And what, my dear, is in California?"'

"The CDC, they're already waiting for us. They're waiting to make the cure."

He laughed again and with his laugh, his hand waved a signal to those they didn't know.

"No." He was suddenly very serious.

He turned away and into Hector who shook his head. "You need to give us the girl, senior." He advised calmly, "We don't want to do any of this."

"Well, you can take her when I'm dead. Hows that?"

"I'm sorry that's your choice." Warren sighed sadly, bring the man's attention slowly back to her.

Warren nodded slowly, and from behind her, she pulls a smoke bomb whose wick is sparking threateningly.

...

Murphy ducked around the gunshots and kept himself down and behind the tents as he made his way closer and closer to the trailer. There would be security waiting of course, but nothing a simple bite couldn't fix or a shot couldn't handle, especially with 10K ordered to watch his back. Out of breath and out of sight, had made it to the front of the truck and as he climbed over the bodies, he opened the door using the keys he'd taken from a bitten carnie who handed them over nicely after he asked for them. Climbing over the bed, he pushed open the back door which, once he found the latch, was easy to open.

"Hey" He called out into the plexiglass walled space. "Come on. We're getting you out of here."

Nothing.

"You have to come with me!" He urged as he entered the shipping container.

Quickly, he moved around the small room but it wasn't until coming behind the couch would his steps stop instantly as he looked down. She was so limp as she lay, and the way she positioned made it look like she had been dumped and hadn't moved since.

"Come on." He tried. "You have to get up."

Her head shook no before her eyes tightened up.

"What?!" He dropped to a crouch. "Why not?"

"They," Her voice sounded quite faded and when she couldn't say anything else, her right arm limped out and turned upwards showing him the red, still bloody injection sight. "Protocol."

Her eyes were so heavy but he could hear her sarcasm and saw her missing fingered hand give a lazy wave. He gives a small laugh as her lips crack into a weak smile as he nods his head. A loud and very close round of automatic shooting was heard and Murphy stood up and looked around.

"Okay. I'm going to.. Just…" He slid his arms under her and lift her surprisingly light frame up and into his arms. Maybe it was the zombie ability, maybe she was just very underweight. Either seemed plausible but his mind was on other things, like getting them both to the truck.

"Wait," She huffed in his ear as he lowered her onto the driver's seat of the cab.

"What?" He froze.

"There's... a group of zombies. In the second trailer. If...if you get that open you can push them over and create a distraction."

He looked out the door than back and the heavy-lidded woman. "Okay..?" He said uncertainly.

"Leave me. Get to the trailer. Release and push out the zombies. Come back for me.."

"Right." They looked at each other as he nodded his head and she used what she could, to pull herself upright into the driver's seat as Murphy crawled out the passenger side and closed the door behind him.

Breathing heavily, she tried to keep awake but failed miserably, losing the battle against her drooping eyelids.

 **...**

She had been right, and there hadn't been a lock on the trailer so when he lift up the sliding door he smiled when he lay his eyes on 8 or 9 zombies just standing there, making weak noises and staring into the dark.

"Guys!" Murphy snapped, gaining their attention, "Go!"

It was quite a pathetic walk, but just then a carnie ran by and one of the faster, probably hungriest zombies struck out and with a trip over his outstretched leg, the clown fell and was quickly devoured.

"The rest of you, go!"

Murphy would watch them go out into the battlefield, knowing damn well he couldn't control who the mindless attacked in this situation and would pass a thought of hope for his group to get out safely. He, on the other hand, had one more stop before he could leave and back to the truck he turned, staying outside the gate and ducking behind tents as he went. He had turned the corner around the front of the truck when he froze and met eyes with PocketPosie who stood with his handgun against the head of the limp woman who he had pulled from the cab.

"Quick question." The ringleader asked as Murphy let out a growl that came from deep within his chest. "Is she, like you? Are _you_ the Murphy?"

"Let her go." He ordered

The gun was cocked with a click. "YOU, are The Murphy, eh? Well, hows this?" He stepped out of the way of the open truck door and pressed the gun harder into the girls head so that she winced. "Get into the truck."

"No." He mocked the obviousness of his answer.

"Get into the truck."

"No," Murphy said simply, giving a shrug.

"Get into the truck or I will fucking kill her!"

That would be the last that the Ringmaster would ever say. A skilled shot by 10K sent a bullet through the man's head which limped his wrist. When he fell so would she, but he would catch her and would pull her from the grasp of the man whose eyes stared into the nothing of death. With a sharp swooping motion, she was in his arms again and he was running towards the big black truck that drove at him.

...

From the open bed of the truck, Murphy watched the firelit carnival as they drove away from the sight. He was not alone, Addy sat on one side, and Doc sat on the other and the woman who was still unnamed, and whose blue skin was so much like his lay against his chest and in his arms, asleep and far away from the world around her. His arms held tight around her stomach but the rest of him was limp as he looked around the barren farm fields. At one point early on, Doc had covered her already shivering body with a blanket. He had covered her with his long coat as Addy used her scarf and leather jacket on top of that. A sudden loud explosive bang brings the back of the truck to flinch but even this won't wake her, and he promises himself not to look at the two who keep staring him as if he had their answers.

"Is she okay?" Doc finally asked.

"She's drugged. She'll sleep it off."

It wouldn't matter what he said or how uncaringly he said it, his actions had already explained everything for the group and Doc would fall back against the wall of the bed with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Alright then."

"Are you okay?" Addy asked, and Murphy would pass her a mixed look between disgusted and insulted.

It would be about an hour down the road when Murphy would finally relax his jaw and had been resting with his eyes closed and his head bent back against the cold metal when a knock to his legs woke him up.

"What?" He looked down first and the woman was still asleep and then outside the walls to see the van was parked on the side of a thin, forest walled road.

Warren was standing next to him and when he noticed her so close, he flinched as a small smile that was sitting on her lips immediately put him on edge.

"What?" He asked.

"Nothing. I'm just checking in. How is she?"

"She's fine." He answered confidently.

"Sleeping a lot."

"Drugged." He answered shortly as he tried to find something interesting in the forest to look at.

She stared at him before she nodded her head, "Okay." She pats his shoulder and changed her expression to one that he understood, but sighed and rolled his eyes away from.

"Stop." He grumbles.

"I didn't say anything." She turned to Doc and Addy. "We're going to keep driving at least another hour before we hit a town. We'll find a place to hunker down there."

"Sounds good." Addy nodds.

"When's dinner?" Doc asked just as she turned to head back to the jeep.

Warren looked around, "Umm." She motioned for Hector, who was driving the truck to hand her some packaged food and a set of blankets from the back seat that she passed to the three awake in the bed along with a supply of water.

"Watch over her, okay?" She landed a heavy hand on him. "We'll aim for a good camp."

"Okay." He agreed with a head nod of his own, and for the first time, he felt not alone in a world so evil.

His grip on her tightened as the truck started back up, destined for the closest spot they could call safe for the night. There were many questions that needed to be answered, some investigating to do, and as Warren drove she thought about Citizen Z and this blue woman in the back of the truck who slept against what could quite possibly be her antidote holding counterpart.


	2. All The Beautiful People

IDK... Do you want a third chapter? Let me know.

**My grammar is terrible, I have wicked Lesdexia (haha) so please excuse that, if you'd like to volenteer to do a basic edit of even a part of this chapter, that would be great and I'd have a very big thank you for you.

* * *

 **All The Beautiful People**

Beautiful people build beautiful houses on hills that have beautiful, tranquil views and that are away from the public world, and if Doc hadn't seen the real estate flyer in the grocery store window of the small town they were driving through, they probably would be camping someplace far more dangerous that night.

Beautiful people who could buy beautiful homes away from other people often had homes with tall, stone walls and strong front gates. Even though they had learned a long time ago larger was not always safer, pool houses often were small and ready to be lived in, built into safe corners with wide yard views. So, they chose a house that was not so magnificent and instead was smaller and they barred off the second story for a planned emergency standoff but still chose to move outside to the backyards small apartment-like maids house. After cleaning out the rotten food of the comfortable, multi-room one-story hut, the group would settle outside around a fire pit as the sunset faded and they waited for QZ to wake up.

With a twist of her neck from where she was sitting, Warren could see inside the glass door and would often check for movement. 10K and Addy lay on long lawn chairs, as she sat upright with her arms crossed over her head. Doc had pulled over a swinging seat he would sit on with his legs up and back against a comfortable backrest and hector was elsewhere, walking around in the dark, taking time for himself. The fire pit was warm and the fire was strong. It was not so much a cold night, as it was just nice to be by something warm and comforting on the safe side of a strong, secure wall. For the first time in a while, things were feeling okay. They had dinner of fire cooked canned beans and some pasta and they even split some chocolate as dessert. It was a good night, which was not something the group had been able to say for a long time.

Only Murphy wouldn't relax. He also wouldn't eat, and overall, he wouldn't sit down. First, he was leaning against a rock just outside the firelight, then the small house it's self, but for the last while he'd be pacing the outside of the circle which on his 9th rotation past Warren, she stuck her arm up and caught the sleeve of his trench coat. She tilts her head up to look at him, he stopped and looked down at her.

"Will you sit down." She said, glancing at the empty chair he had pulled over but never sat in.

"Why?" his voice was impatient, eyebrows raised.

He shrugged her off his arm and continued around the circle.

"You're stressed."

"Over what? You're being stupid." His tone was harsh, the shadows of the fire she watched him through made him look only that more demonic and dismissive, but still, his eyes never matched his voice and the wave of his hand was too passive for Warren to take seriously. As he shrugged her off, she continued to sit where she was and crossed her arms as she settled back into the seat, watching him as he continued to circle like a vulture.

"How long has it been?" He asked for the first time in that half hour.

"Maybe 2, 2 ½ hours." Addy shrugged, looking at the now dark sky. "It was light when we got here."

"Hm."

Clearly unsatisfied, he would sit down though. He'd fall heavily into the comfortable fold out chair and his eyes would fall into an intensive stare at the fire.

"Don't worry about it." Warren sighed as she tilted her head back and closed her eyes, "she should be coming out of it soon if she isn't already."

"I'm not worrying." He informed her simply.

And indeed it seemed that there was nothing to worry about. 10K had sat on the roof of the van, looking over the fences, finally settling on the perfect yard with a tree house, a pool pit and a perfect little maids hut. Once through the front gate, the house was searched with ease and was quickly and effortlessly called as clear. But that was not their aim. The maids quarter promised necessities in a small space, and lately, it was about sticking close together, rather than be rooms apart in the dark. Addy had pulled back the comforter of the double-wide bed, and Murphy lay the still sleeping woman down before stepping away. Warren placed a mostly filled water bottle and a note on the side table with the simple words, " _You're safe. We're outside."_ She had opened the closet doors in hopes to prompt the QZ to see the clothing options and with that, they left her with the bedroom door open. One thing they hadn't factored in was that she possibly wouldn't remember what happened, where she was or how she got in the bed she would wake in. Unfortunately, this, would end up being a vital mistake.

Perhaps she stepped on the stick on purpose. Maybe she was trying to grab their attention. Maybe she had failed in trying to sneak away. Regardless, when the break of the stick echoed from the darkness, conversations stopped and the eyes of all jumped to look at the source. They hadn't all noticed her standing in the doorway, and at the time most of them wouldn't know how long she had been standing there. Except for Murphy, who had been watching the doorway at the time so when she stepped from the shadows he had watched her body bleed from the cellophane darkness into the furthest of the flickering firelight. He had watched her as she watched the others and for a minute, would watch him back. He wasn't obvious to those around him, and would only glance her way for short times, but he had been doing it for what must have been a few minutes before the breaking stick snapped everyone to attention. Now, no one was laying anymore, even Doc set his legs on the ground. Murphy stayed in his seat as Warren stood up slowly, watching her intently, eyes soft, jaw open just a little as she waited to know if she should speak first.

Thin. They had noticed that on the drive as well as her bruises and cuts but now she looked haunted and rather scary in her own right. Her hair was short and very messy, spiking out in different directions in many sharp tips that looked almost like quills. Nothing too bad, but they understood now why the cage had been dark, and why she been shadowed from clear view. In the shadows again, she did look very tired and that the legs that held her were weak as the way she leaned against the threshold made them believe she felt as they were also unreliable. She wore a blank face with empty, hollow eyes whose white coated right eye would glisten in the half moons light. The only glimpse of warmth that came from her, was the reflection of the flames of the fire.

QZ had found clothing options and had pulled together an outfit from what she found. She stood wearing a pair of baggy cargo pants held up by a tight, buckle belt. She wore a band t-shirt that was one size too big with a plaid unbuttoned, button down over shirt that fell past her waist. Over her shoulders, she wore a heavy brown jacket that fell to her knees and on her feet, a pair of shoes that seemed just a little too big but were tied tightly.

"Hello," Warren said gently after a tense second.

She said nothing, but when she moved her hand that hung by her outside hip, the group caught sight off the reflection of the barrel of a handgun that she gently swung in and out of view from behind her leg a few times. The group was up now and hands were on hips.

"Whoa, there." Addy chuckled as she straightened up. "There's no need for that."

The gun tapped against her leg lightly as she, with a tried expression that broke the strength she was pulling together, looked around the group again making eye contact with each person, her eyes eventually landing on Murphy which is where they held.

"I remember you," She pointed with her free hand at Murphy who stood up from his chair as she addressed him; his hands wiping down the front of his jacket as if attempting to clean up. "And I remember you two." She looked at Warren and then over to Hector who stood for the rest in the shadow of darkness. When she looked at him she gave him a head cocked, questioning stare as in his stance he gave her the impression he had been trying to sneak up on her.

This, QZ fell against the doorway again, her ability to hold such a strength was not in her and her body limped in her downfall. She leaned her shoulder against the threshold, the gun still hanging limply in her hand as she slowly looked from Hector back to Warren who was closest to her, her own hand on her gun.

Then she looked at 10K and Addy and then Doc. "But I don't know the rest of you," Her eyes went back to Warren, "and I don't how I got here."

Her voice was very blank and strong, it appeared that she didn't fear very much of anything or was just too tired to care. Maybe both. Either way, she was far more cautious than anything else.

"We brought you here," Addy explained which took her attention away from Warren.

"We?"

"Well," Warren persuaded, "Murphy did about everything but the driving."

Back to Murphy, her eyes are lingering on the man who watches her just as intently.

"Are you really a Zombie Queen?" 10K Finally asked the question that they were all thinking but had not asked because quite honestly, it hadn't been the right time.

"10K," Warren sighed. "Sh."

But QZ seemed to find this humors as she smiled and gave a small laugh.

"You're Murphy then, yeah?" She was looking at him again, her smile only growing when with a smile of his own he nodded and started approaching her slowly, sticking to the inside, close to the fire and it's light.

" _The_ Murphy, if you don't mind." He prided himself quite confidently as he stepped around the fire pit fluidly, the back of his trench coat swinging side to side slowly with his swagger.

She nodded once. "You're the reason my life went to hell."

Even though she smiled, her words and tone made it hard to respond similarly and Murphy didn't take another step closer. At first, he almost laughed along with her but seemed to rethink this and held back as his own smile faulted.

"What?" He eventually asked.

"Everything was fine for forever, and with the right amount of discrepancy I was sliding by this apocalypse like a champ." She shrugged as Murphy swallowed a thickening stone that grew in his throat. "If anyone asked me what was wrong, I was able to say I'm sick and it didn't mean a damn thing as long as I could talk and trade my shit. Then, the nukes fell and things got easier. Radiation sickness was such an accepted reason that as long as I could still talk and trade it didn't mean a damn thing."

"Well, I don't see how _any_ of that is related to me." He chuckled as he received heavy glares at his back.

"And then, Citizen Z made the world a hell of a lot smaller overnight…" Her voice darkened as her gun slid into sight and held in the open against her leg. "Within two hours I had people outside my home I had once called allies, with guns drawn." Murphy's face fell just slightly but a larger weight had clearly been lowered onto his shoulders, "That's when things got the worse they'd ever been, even before all this zombie bullshit."

Murphy didn't say anything and neither would anyone else. A heavy silence blanketed the night where for once nothing made a noise. There was not a single cricket song or owl hoot or even a single zombie groan. Still, slowly, Murphy took another step forward, now standing stiffly next to Warren.

"Where'd you find the gun?" He said instead, passing off the conversation for the question he had been mulling over since her first step out of the darkness and his first glance at the gun.

"Maids quarters always have a gun." She shrugged.

"Ah." He nodded slowly, putting his hands in his pockets and glancing at Warren. "We didn't think about that."

"Lucky me." Her eyebrow curved as she twitched the handgun on her leg again.

Another bout of silence where everyone stared at each other but it was QZ who spoke up first this time

"What happens to me next?"

Murphy laughed. "What do you mean?"

"Are you willing to take me home?" She asked blankly.

"Home?" Murphy asked.

"My home base is in, Las Vegas."

"How long since you've had contact?" Hector asked.

"A few months.." Her confidence faltered. These days, next week seemed like a year.

"We're on our way to California" Warren proceeded slowly.

"Fun?" She questioned the importance.

"We're getting Murphy to the CDC lab where people are working on a cure."

"How is he the cure?"

Another silence but this time it was rather awkward.

"Well.." 10K started slowly, "I mean you…. and... Murphy…." He finished with the slow wave of his hand.

"Me and Murphy what?" She asked turning to fully face the younger man.

"Well, you know, you're both…" Addy glanced around for support.

Hector would have enough at this point and would finish the slowly placed conversation abruptly.

"Blue." He'd say in a swift and absolute manner.

She gives a snarky, sarcastic smile to Hector before returning her attention to Murphy before looking down at her own hand, twisting her lighter blue fingers in the firelight. For quite a few people it was the first sign that she recognized the fact her and Murphy were anything alike at all but the situation was not an expected one and it was becoming painfully obvious the so well trained group, didn't know how to go about this situation.

"Do you think I could borrow you for a minute?" She asks Murphy directly for privacy to talk about just this.

She earned a theatrical arm wave from Murphy and a sigh from Addy as Warren rolled her eyes. They didn't seem mad at her, but it seemed that Murphy's apparent overconfidence was not something new, or rarely seen.

"As many as you need," he says in a low, suggestive voice as he steps from the group and firelight.

She'd give him a disgusted glare, which probably gained her a few points with the others, but still she'd meet with him as they walk by the fire pit and away from the group who would go back to reclining the same as before, just a bit tenser and with Doc finishing up a can of beans he had saved from earlier.

Leaving the group behind her, they wouldn't say anything for a long time. They'd glance at each other as they walked through the backyard and onto the tarred driveway. He'd catch her staring at his hands every now and then, most likely at the blue, but he would ignore it for as long as he could. People staring at the color always made him feel naked regardless of how much he was wearing and in a compulsive reaction, he'd slip his hands into his jacket pockets. By now, she had walked him down the driveway and through the gate and onto the street where in either direction of the road she would count about seven zombies total.

"Come on." She says quietly as she directs them towards the nearest standing walker.

He watched her as they approached, switching his attention between her and the walker who, as they passed by with her on the side of the zombie, would snap its teeth once in their direction before starting to follow them after about a foots distance.

"I like to use them as privacy shields." She informed as she walked them pass by another walker who after a few seconds would follow also. "We bring them closer with our voices and movements, which creates a thicker wall. But they won't touch us while willingly killing everyone else."

He tightened his brow. "You think they'd really send someone out to follow us?"

She stopped walking and sighed as she looked to either side. "No. I don't think that they think you're in any danger you wouldn't be able to get out of. Not enough to risk the life of their own, anyway."

"I am one of their own." He defended.

She let out a small laugh that was condescending and vindictive at the same time. "No. You're apart of the group. But you're not one of their own."

"Why not?"

She shrugged as if the answer was an obvious thing. "Because you don't fear like they do."

"Fear?" He asked quietly though he had an idea of what she was saying.

"Fear and morality are what pulls them together. We… I thought I, but now it's we… We don't worry about being attacked and bitten. Therefore, _we_ will never truly be one of them for we will only occasionally fear the walking dead"

She stepped in front of a walker wearing a labor workers outfit and without a sense of hesitation, she poked it in the nose. "Walk that way."

And off the zombie would walk, dragging the chord of the drill that stuck out of his back with it like a tail, leaving the two of them to watch it stumble off into the forest.

"I don't remember what happened." She speaks again a few seconds later, slowly turning back to look at Murphy.

"I came in through the cab of the truck, and you were.." He fumbled over uncomfortable topics, "Anyway, I got you in our truck, and we left and wound up here." He listed simply.

"Is he... Is he dead?" Clearly, she was nervous about the question she was asking.

"We gave him Mercy."

Her face turned sour at that moment, "he doesn't deserve anything by that word."

"So you weren't there willingly?"

She shook her head. "No."

They would walk for a minute longer without saying much of anything, their steps among the sound of shuffling and the occasional wild noise from one of the near-by zombies who was either was already noticed or had stumbled from the tree line. Taking turns, they silently used their abilities to push away walkers as they approached them until Murphy asked a question he had been thinking about for a while.

"So what's your story?"

"My life story? Or," she swiped her fingers down his arm over the skin of his hand. Her first contact, and a contact that instantly broke his arm out in goosebumps that he was happy it was too dark for her to see.

He nodded his head, "Yeah. That."

She looked around, shoulders hunching uncomfortably.

"I ran away from home and was living in New York at the time of the very start of the outbreak and was moving around frequently. One day, these flyers just started popping up around the alleyways a tent towns talking about cash for sacrifice. You go in, get injected with something and get paid $500. End of story." She sighed. "But you'd never find one of these flyers in the open streets and I guess that should have been my first red flag."

"And you did it?" Murphy asked.

"Yeah. Once. I waited though. Waited awhile to see if my friends died. Some did, some just flat never came back.. But some stopped using heroin or meth and shaped their lives for the better. I guess I was hoping for the best case, you know?"

"Yeah.."

"Yeah, mine though.." She shook her head and took a deep breath. "A week after, I got stabbed in a robbing... Like, legit homeless strung out the attack." She shrugged. "I went to the hospital, they said I died, they brought me back and released me like, 2 nights later.. A week later I started turning this blueish, and my eyesight started fading from my eye." She touched the space below her white, foggy eye. "I had this huge seizure and then.." Her voice trailed out and when Murphy looked at her he'd see she was thinking, and not so much in silent in shame. "One night, I don't even know how they knew where I was, but these guys showed up and burned down the tent city I was in. They took me, threw me in a van and I spent the next 4 years in a glass cell with a walkout activity area. Like a kennel in a dog shelter but I was alone."

Murphy didn't say anything, he just kept his eyes forward on the street they traveled on, his brow hard, his celled, orange lined eyes sharp to the world around him.

"What about you?" She asked.

"I went from being in a cell for a few years to turning blue." He said with a pip in his step and smirk on his lips and he turned to see her smile just a little too.

"It was a few years into a prison sentence when I became an 'Unwilling Volunteer' thanks to Doctor Merch." His head twitched with the words and his eyes widened in sarcasm at the superficial importance. "I was given the vaccine right as the lab was being overrun… I was.. Uhh.." He stumbled. "I was attacked right after that by zombies."

Another bout of silence, something uncomfortably common so much so that Murphy would speak again.

"At what point were you bitten?" He asks.

"I was first bitten maybe three months after the cities started falling. I watched the world burn from my plexiglass hell. The story is the same. We were overrun and some Others.. they changed and couldn't be controlled.. Or." She thought for a second, "Maybe I just didn't know how to control them." She shrugged.

"There were two attacks on you?" He recalled.

"Yeah, that first one at the lab. And… It was less than a year ago, I was attacked by these roaming pack of Ferals.

"You couldn't control them?" He asked remembering his own encounters.

"No. They hated me... They chased me down on foot until I collapsed... If it wasn't for PocketPosie…." Her voice cut off and the space between them got very cold very quickly.

"Well, now you're with us." He prompted with a secure head nod in her direction.

She stopped walking and looked at him with a tight jaw but very sad eyes.

"I'd like to go back now."

"Back where?" He stepped closer, closing the space to only a few inches between them and she would stand comfortably in his shadow looking up at him.

"Out of the dark." She says with a curt nod.

Murphy shook his head and as he went to pass by her, he offers her his arm which she takes a hold of and together they started their walk back.

"You know, we could help a lot of people if you come with us to California." He'd say the words she didn't want to hear.

"The only reason you say that is because you don't want to be alone in the operating room when they dissect you."

He swallows hard at the nightmare that plagued him.

"There's no one who deserves it." She picked with a shrug.

"Warren and the others deserve it!"

She actually laughed out loud, louder than before. "Man, I bet ammo and all the rest of the world's gas that these people would have left you behind ages ago if it weren't for your blood."

He didn't say anything because she was right, but instead of calling out herself as smart, she looked at him and squeezed his arm in hers.

"You know, the one thing I thought when the nukes fell was that I just don't think we deserve a second chance just to destroy the planet further. We aren't a good species, we're a plague and _this_ , this is mother nature fixing her error. That's why the only way to immunity, was through medical intervention.

With no argument to be had, they would keep walking until Murphy dropped his hand onto her arm and gave a reassuring shake. "You're with us now." His words final and strong with beliefe.

She sighed at his ignorance and looked up the street where the firelight could be seen flickering over the stone gate of the property.

"For now…" She whispers, and again she feels the supposed reassuring tightness of his hand on her arm.

…..

10K lowers the sniper rifle and looks out to where he was watching them with just his eyes. She must have felt him watching her because not long after he found her in the scope, he watched her pull her arm out of Murphys hold, a hold that seemed quite willing. He felt a wave of sickness wash over him. First, Cassandra, then Pie lady.. Now.. This one. He's frustrated and sighs away stress and is relieved when Doc, who was standing him next to Warren who was watching their pair with binoculars, spoke up.

"Well, Jeez. You don't see that anymore."

"Two people walking together?" Warren asked, raising an eyebrow and lowering the binoculars.

"Walk?! They're downright strolling through the damn zombie apocalypse." Doc huffed and shook his head. "I'm jealous."

"Of what? That he's walking through zombies or that he's found himself his third prospect."

This sudden angry outburst from 10K was awarded by a wide-eyed stare that brought the bristled sniper backed down.

"It's also what I'm worried about." Warren sighed cracking her back.

"What do you mean?" Doc asked.

"Murphy is unstable to say the least… The pair just seems like a ticking time bomb to…." Her voice faded.

"A new world." Doc sighed as she looked back out over the road to see the pair slipping through the front gate.

"A new world I'm not sure I want Murphy to be a leading man in. Come on, let's go." Warren nodded to the two, though Doc was already going down the stairs of the treehouse that was perfectly positioned to see out over the property wall.

The group assembled and met the pair by the fire pit that still burned warmly and flickered welcomingly. The two broke apart as QZ stepped away from Murphy who slowed to a stop just outside the group's circle. The woman stopped walking once within the circle and nodded her head and gave a small smile.

"You can call me, Ember. Thank you for saving my life." She said warmly and with a nod of her head.

"Nice to meet you, Ember." Warren nodded. "I'm Warren, this is Hector, 10k, Addy and Doc."

"And I'm, _The Murphy_." He pushed himself into the conversation with his arms spread before dropping them heavily, his approach bringing him up behind the shoulder of now named Ember, who wouldn't choose to step away.

She looked at 10K and gave a small smile, "And to answer your question. If he's what makes the Z king, then yes, I am the Z queen."

…

The next day they would choose to stay again at the house. Extremely secure and with food, the zombies weren't a problem and after such a long run, it felt good to relax. In fact, the zombies seemed deterred from coming close to the property altogether. This phenomenon would be brought up by 10k rather quietly to Addy and Doc after he had spent a few hours sitting and watching how they moved. The Z's didn't act to avoid, they just never seemed to turn straight in this direction, but 10k had noticed the group was growing in numbers and more were stumbling around in the street which was never favorable, even if they stayed away.

Ember was fully awake by lunch and had stepped out of the daze of heavy sedatives. She had a similar bite to her tone like Murphy had, a convict style degraded humor, but was kind and spoke openly to everyone. That morning she would eat with the group but afterward would go off and do her own thing as was what she was used too. She first explored the house and brought back finds, or, as she was doing currently, was walking the top of the stone guard wall, watching over its edge as she stepped heel to toe.

"He's making me nervous." Warren would say quietly to Addy later that afternoon as they watched Murphy as he was watching her from a distance. He hadn't even tried to make himself hidden either, in fact, he was sitting in an already placed chair out in the open just watching her as she wrapped the wall.

"I know what you mean," Addy sighed as she threw a horseshow down the sandy path.

"Am I paranoid for being worried?"

"No." Hector had come from across the yard. "I don't trust it either. All he's done is follow her like his blends have followed him. The eyes of el obsesionado. And, I didn't really trust him to start with either."

"He's been talking about running off." Addy shrugged.

"He's been getting tired of being a "blood sack." Hector nodded, quoting the man.

"He's getting tired of being a thing and not a who." Warren shook her head. "But there isn't anything we can do about it because I can't handle Murphy as a He."

It was a dark admission but a true one. They each had the thought of leaving him too many times to count and each had even more memories of being abandoned by him. The fact he controlled zombies seemed his only perk. Warren wasn't sure that if things were different, he'd still be here.. In the group, or outright alive.

Warren looks around for 10k and Doc and finds them together standing by the dirty, mostly empty pool. She takes her turn and makes a throw…

"I'll go talk to him."

The horseshoe rings around the pole and she counts her points as she walks away from Addy and Hector, quickly pulling together what she'd say when she reached the lounging man. Along the way, she pulled to her a lawn chair that she places heavily next to Murphy who flinches as she lands at his side a few steps later. Warren didn't' say anything at first, she followed where he had been looking and watched as Ember had stopped and was looking out towards the forest.

"You okay?" She asked him, which earned her only a humf noise from Murphy who seemed to be trying to sink into the chair and his coat.

"You haven't been doing much today."

"I thought that's why we stayed. To relax." He'd scuff.

"Well, we're thinking of pushing off tomorrow, a lot of puppies and kittens have gathered at our doorstep."

He shrugged. "Nothing out of the ordinary"

She decided not to bring that fact not a single zombie had touched a single brick of the wall, but decided it wasn't the right time. "Have you asked your friend if she's coming?"

He was quiet, and his outstretched leg started twitching at the foot. A clear sign of tension and irritability he was so known for.

"Murphy?" She asked.

"I'm not sure."

"Well," She sighed dropping a hand on his shoulder as she stood up, "we're heading out to California bright and early, and Los Vegas sounds like a good pit stop to me."

She started walking away when like something from a wish, she heard him call her name.

"Warren."

"Yes?" She turned back to him.

"Why are you leaving this up to me?" He grumbled.

Turning back to Murphy, Warren crossed her arms. "This was always your priority, Murphy. I figure you're a big boy now and I can let you have this one."

Frowning, he'd watch Warren turn away and walk back to her small group to pick up her game of horseshoes. As she moved, Murphy's gaze would fall on Hector where for a tense moment they held narrow eyed glares for a long minute before Hector turned back to Warren and Addy.

…

That night the world was quiet but Murphy was quieter. He moved around his sleeping companions and outside to where he had left Ember by the fire pit. They had all dwindled away one by one until the last of the group had said goodnight and left her by the fire alone. When he stepped outside, he saw she was still sitting in the same chair, eyes raising to him as he stepped out the rest of the way.

"Can't sleep?" He asks her as he starts over to the fire pit.

"I never sleep." She chuckled.

He landed standing next to her, his arms crossed.

"Tell me something." He would push in a huffed breath before looking at her. "Can you see out of that eye?"

"I can see out of both eyes." Murphy was about to speak when she pushed forward, "I also don't need to sleep, I don't get sick, I'm never hungry and very rarely am I thirsty."

He looked her over. "I thought I was the only one."

"That was a selfish assumption."

He tightened his lips but he bit back his insult as he took another step closer.

"Have you ever bitten anyone?"

The question came whispered from behind her ear. Murphy had leaned over and the heat of his breath warmed the back of her neck. She paused before answering. Why exactly, he didn't know but for him, it was a good sign. As he exhaled another breath against her skin, he could almost hear her heartbeat racing…

Maybe that was actually her heartbeat racing that he heard as a dull drumming in the back of his mind. A noise that drives him closer to her, her scent quickly becoming intoxicating. His lips almost grazed her neck now, a small chuckle emits from him and he was close enough to see bumps break out along her collar.

"Have you ever eaten a brain?" she asked and was answered by the drop his hand on her collar, fingers grazing her neck and with a flick of his index under her chin, she lifts her head up to look at him.

"Yes." He chuckled, and together they would share a dark moment meant for zombies.

Murphy would eventually straighten up but would keep his hand on her shoulder as he would move up against the back of the chair, awarded by the feeling of her head resting back against him.

"We're leaving in the morning." He'd inform her after they watched the flames for a few quiet minutes.

"I can be gone before you all wake up." She offered in return.

"Or…" His other slithered over her shoulder from behind, his grip tightening, the pressure pulling her back into the chair and into him. "You could come with us.."

"I'm no one's lab practice." Her voice was stiff but she didn't make to move away.

"We could drop you in Las Vegas."

'Outside Las Vegas," She corrected. "Outside Las Vegas is a little community in the desert. It's full of really good people who I call friends. That's where I need to be brought."

"'If you can show us which way to drive, we'll bring you." He nodded his head and squeezed her shoulder. "You'll be here for that?"

She tilted her head back to look at him. "You're going to bed?"

He thought she was kidding when she said she never slept, but her face remained straight and her eyes as confused as he was.

"I'm tired." He explained as he retracted his hands and she slowly turned back to fire.

"I'll be here in the morning." She nodded as he turned to walk back inside.

...

.


	3. Plans to Send Away

Well, she wasn't there that morning.

The air was brisk and the sky was dark. The world was abnormally quiet as it seemed she took the walkers with her when she went. That morning, Murphy would walk out of the small house that sat in the corner of the overgrown yard and towards the solemn group of people who looked at him uncomfortably.

"What?" He asked as he looked around. "Where is she?"

"She left." A voice came from behind him as 10K, his duffle bag and rifle in his hands, pushed by. "Right at sunrise."

His face twisted in anger. "And you didn't try to stop her?"

"Why would I?" 10K only looks back for a moment at Murphy as he slings his bag over his shoulder. From there, disgruntled and empathetically irritable, 10K harshly turns away and continues back to the truck where Hector had stopped loading and was instead watching them.

The fire pit was cold, not even a smoke trail was left over and the seat he had left her in was empty and just as cold, a setting he looked over with a furrowed brow. Addy would then come from his side and mention that the handgun was gone along with a backpack, some clothes and water were missing but even then he didn't want to believe it so he stepped away from the door and looked around the backyard.

She said she would be here.

"I'm sorry, Murphy," Warren said softly with a sad expression and soft shrug as she pat his shoulder and glanced down the way at 10K. "We got to go though."

He'd give another look around the backyard as the others walked away. He looked towards the house and examine the windows, looking for any face or curtain sway. He'd look down the yard to the road with his brows pressed together in a disgruntled stare.

"Murphy!" Warren would call out as the cars lit up with grumbling life.

He shakes her from his head as he grabbed his pack and set off away from the home.

….

"He acts like a blend." 10K whispers to Doc as they drive along in the SUV.

Addy's in the back seat which left Warren in the truck with Hector. She leaned forward. Addy was going to press this topic sooner or later with 10K because she didn't but did understand his anger.

"But she's gone now….so.."

He sunk down in his seat, the rifle pointed up and resting between his legs, his feet on the dashboard. "No. She's not…"

"What?" She asked him as she glanced his way.

10K shook his head and took a deep breath in. "He acts like a blend..."

The world was never so small as it was nowadays and that was one of the few somethings that any of the group had yet gotten used to.

It was about an hour or two later when Doc would notice the oddity and he was the first. 10K had nodded off but he was quick to wake when he heard Dog gasp quietly as he started tapping the wheel excitedly.

"Warren." He says into the hand radio as 10k leaned forward, swearing under his breath as he watched out the front windshield with Addy right over his shoulder.

"Yeah?" Warrens voice crackled over the mic.

Doc smiled. "I think we found, Q."

The line is quiet, but Doc knows its Ember because no one else walled themselves with such creatures untethered. A group of five walkers shuffled along in a walled shield that resembled a protection like a porcupines shield. Though obviously, this was attention-grabbing it certainly served a point as the three were larger, taller and stronger looking men, the other two were thinner, far faster moving zombies that would act as runners. The group was walking along on the side of the dirt path and Doc twist the wheel just so and slowed the car to a roll alongside the pack, further ignoring the protests from of 10K as he rolled down the window after he refused to.

"Hey there, little lady." Doc called out over the straightforward staring 10K. "We were just heading to Las Vegas. Want a ride?"

He was being friendly, kind and quite fatherly and this made her crack a smile, but when she glanced over she sees the slouching, straight forward staring sniper looked quite disgruntled and extinguished any light Doc had provided.

"I'm okay walking." she sighed, refusing to turn around where she only guessed she'd see Murphy in the only other car.

"You sure?" Doc asked again, a hint of nervousness in his voice. "I've got some good Z weed and -"

"So now you're bribing me with drugs?" her tone tilted on insulted as she continued to stare straight ahead at the road whose expansiveness before her brought a change in her expression just slightly. It was going to get very hot soon and the summer air was far drier and taxing now than any other season. She was alone on an open stretch of road with little shade and less water.

"Well.. no.." Doc defends himself weakly. "That's not what I meant.."

One of the larger of the five followers growled loudly and another would flash a dead eyed stare at Docs direction, his teeth snapping viciously though he didn't step towards the car.

"Damn it." A voice she didn't want to hear comes up behind her. "Just shut up, both of you."

It was Murphy who grumbled his irritation as he hopped out of the back seat of the slow, pace keeping truck, pushing the car door closed behind him. But, as she had already decided, she wouldn't allow the approach and in a sharp glare, two zombies turned around suddenly and started hungrily at Murphy in a fast walk that wouldn't last. Murphy pushed them away just as easily as she had sent them and they'd curve around him without touching him like a wave around a rock.

"Hey!" he yelled after her, directing the third zombies away and past him with his matching abilities.

"Murphy!" Warren was watching the scene escalate from the driver's seat and would call after the man she was sworn to protect over all else as Hector mercyed the three that redirected towards them. He'd ignore her though, and Ember would throw another zombie his way before her arsenal was down to one.

"What are you doing?!" He tried again, growing quite angry rather quickly at the style of attack he was presented with.

Stopping harshly, she landed her hands on his chest and pushed him away roughly. "Look. Here's my answer if you haven't gathered it by now." She looked at those who looked at her before looking back at Murphy and lowering her voice to an angry hiss. "I don't know you enough to trust you. I don't trust these people and I don't trust any of you as a group because of this "mission" you're so loyal to. I have places to go, and I have my own people to return to."

"Why wouldn't you at least tell me that?" He snapped with the same harshness that pushed in her tone, himself stepping closer and cocking his head to the side prompting her on.

"It's not personal." she shrugged. "It's… It's just a boat I don't want to travel in."

"Why?"

"Because," a flash of anger returned. "It's a destination, I don't want to meet."

"That's why we're planning on going to drop you off in, Las Vegas!"

"Why do you care!?" She yelled out as she threw out her arms.

Gone quite, he always had a way with confrontation these days where he would just shut down. Now, with the heat of the group watching him, he'd fall into a silence and hard glare. He wasn't going to have this conversation in front of Warren, who was by now taking her first steps closer. He wouldn't carry a yelling fight. He wouldn't.

"Come here." She grabbed his coat suddenly and pulled him away from the others and off the road and into the dead farmland.

"Listen to me," she explains slowly, releasing his jacket with a sharp push. "Zombies are herd animals, okay?"

He passes her a confused look but nods his head.

Frustrated she sighs and stares at him. "That is what _this_ is. Do you understand?"

"No."

"Come on," She growled at him, falling back onto her back leg.

He'd turn to look at her, his face strong. "I dreamed of you..." his voice slid into a serious dark, emotionless tone that cautioned a warning.

"And I saw you from the road all the way to the glass. But it's not real…. It's…." she looked at her blue fingered hand that she raised to touch him. "A manufactured drive…." she finished with a sigh.

"So, we leave you?" He shrugs with his arms.

"Excuse me?"

He took a step back and shook his head. "It's going to be a hot day I just... thought you'd want a faster ride home... with people who you know won't kill you."

She smirks. "No one wants to kill me… If I die the blood rots…"."

"What if I wanted to be the only one?" He'd look at her with a look that made her doubt herself with him. It was a hungry, angry glare that reached into the black of his soul.

"You'd have to fight me for it..." He'd hear her whisper after a minute.

He looked around the field of barren land and flower patch like gatherings of zombies with a doubtful smile on his face and a happy huff coming off his shoulders. He lets her think things through and weigh her opinions without another word. She may not want to come to California… Fine… She might not help them find the CDC…. But they needed a radio and Las Vegas sounds like a safe stop along the way.

She takes his hand gently then, a move he wasn't expecting but a move he wouldn't pull away from which allowed her to slowly pull his hand up between them. Her fingers slipped over his palm and fall in line with his own outstretched fingers in a color scheme where she was darker then him.

He'd watch her eyebrows furrow in that moment as she tilts their hands into the more direct sunlight.

"Were you darker than this," She mentioned.

"That's racist." He joked as he looked at their skin color closer when she looked up at him. Indeed, he was lighter than her.

"Ummm. Yeah… maybe." He pulled his hand away suddenly uncomfortable and shoves it in his pocket.

They stood there awkwardly for a moment before he asked her a question that weighed heavily on him.

"You really don't sleep?" He asked and she shook her head no.

"You do?"

He nodded his head yes.

"It's a different vaccine, you think?" He asked her under his breath.

"Two different locations" She shifted her weight and looked around. "Can I ask you a question?"

He nodded.

"With the state of things, out of those who are left who would you actually want to save?"

He avoided looking at her as she asked him a question he wasn't sure of the answer, so instead, he kept his hands in his pockets and expression as blank as he could.

"Doctor Merch?" Her voice is the vipers venom.

"Let us take you to Las Vegas…" Murphy grumbles under his breath.

She stalls and looks back at the group of cars and as she does this her hands find their own place within the pockets of the sweater she'd taken. "If anything…" He shrugged. "We can get in contact with Citizen Z and have him call off the search."

"You can do that?" Her interest was suddenly peaked.

He puffs up, suddenly finding himself on that pedestal he enjoys. "It's part of our mission to talk with Citizen Z. It's the least we can do since..."

"I want to talk to Citizen Z." She asks him to which he shrugs and nods.

"I'm sure he'd want to talk to you too."

Again she looks at the cars then back to him.

"We'll travel together?"

He smirks, "If that's what you want."

She weighs it all as she looks around. Clearly frustrated, she glances into the rolling hills and remembers the Ferals and those who act and ask no questions. She thinks about gunshots she heard earlier and the dangers of walking on the road as who she was. This team had water and food and had been the people who went back for her when they didn't need to. They had The Murphy, and she wasn't sure if she'd ever see him, or anyone like him again. Honestly, when it came down to it, she felt the pull just as much as he did.

"Okay." She sighs, and finally nods her head. "Fine."

Really?" His eyes widen for a moment.

"At the compound… We have a radio tower. If you promise that I can talk to Citizen Z, we have a deal."

He grins, nods and together they start back to the waiting group zombieless.

….

The ride was quiet for the most part, the sun was bright, and the air was cool. Every now and then a wave of rot would wave through the nose, and every so often a sift turn would be made. But the roads were clear and were cleared by hands before them. There were cars that lined the edge of the road; built to be the wall it was. Nose to boot. Nose to boot. There's a large gat at times, but these are obvious signs. Each car acts as a barrier which meant it was a road highly traveled. From the palm of her hand the walkie-talkie buzzes..

"What's with the cars?" She hears Warrens voice ask.

Ember, from her space in the bed has already been watching the road with a small smile. She had been in her own corner, a drastic difference from how she was the day they found her. She wasn't shying away from Murphy; their legs were touching even now as she leaned forward and even though the truck bed was rather small, she didn't have to but allowed it.

"I told you." She talks into the device, "it's a road to civilization."

"What kind of civilization are we talking about?" Murphy spoke up in a harsher tone that he reserved for his most umpesent of times, surprising the group who had each assumed he had fallen asleep as his head had been cast down for a while and the brim of his hat and hair covered his eyes.

"What do you mean?" Ember asked looking at Addy who was the only one with them.

"Well, we've seen some pretty crazy civilizations." Addy chuckled darkly.

Addys expression changed then as she looked away, away from them and away from their stares.

"Every community will have their problems." Ember cryptically admit with a shrug as she looked at Murphy who raised his eyebrows with his shrug.

Addy turned to look back at Ember, "They have a radio tower?"

She doesn't answer, but she nods, and the truck bed slides to silence again as everyone fell back into their own thoughts. It would be another hour before Ember lift the walkie-talkie to her mouth and pressed the connecting button.

"We should pull over here." She suggests and almost immediately the cars pull over.

"What's going on?" Warren asked as she came from the drivers side and each of the party moved around to circle the truck bed where Ember was standing up.

"We're running out of forest. We'll be hitting the desert soon and we need to ditch the truck because I'm personally not putting up with riding through sharp desert sand like this." She gestures around her to the truck bed as she looks over the cab. "Some of these cars run and I know which ones they are. Go lead, I'll be up here and I'll tell you which one is set."

"We just leave the truck here?"

"Take a car, leave a car system. Wipe it, lock it, we might want to cipher gas, but... You won't be able to tell it apart from the others.

Warren nodded, as she looked around. "And you know where you're going?"

A wary looked was passed between the women in that moment.

"Do you see this road." Ember gestures around them before returning to Warren. "I got us here…. I obviously know where I'm going."

Not long after the truck would hit a pothole and her foot would slip and catch his leg. He wouldn't mention it, not pass a glance and most certainly he did not pull away as she kept over the cab, looking out over cars, looking for the best change out.

….

They would break into the desert an hour later with a SUV instead of the was right, the sun was strong and the sand would have been torturous, but they were in AC now and with half a tank that she promised would bring them all the wall. That afternoon the sun beat down on the metallic car tops as within, the company rides in air-conditioned bliss. The land was so barren of everything including shade but was not without cactus and calf high burrows of spiky plants. Ember sat next to Murphy still, now in the backseat as Addy rode up front with Hector who was driving. Warren was ahead, driving with Doc and 10K.

"Guys….. Look." Embers voice was small both in the car and into the mic but he'd see her finger pressed against the glass so he leaned over her and looked where she was pointing. He would lie, if he'd ever be asked, that he hadn't leaned against her. He'd lie and say that he didn't know that when he tilted his neck he was breathing warm whispers against the skin of his throat, and he'd lie about feeling her lean back against him just so.

Out the window she had instructed the cars around a rocky bend where suddenly, many lights decorated what truly was a huge compound that was placed at the base of a very large lake below was only one made wall they'd see on the way up, and that was because the rest of the society was built on the edge cliffs while the town wrapped around the the water supply.

"Those are all different sets." She says as she leans back just a bit, just enough to graze his shirt with her shoulder and brush his jaw with her cheek. "There are four little towns that make up the larger community. We trade with the civ in Las Vegas..like, a half hour down the road.

A whiff of a winter's cup of a warm butter rum. A dash of death and the sweet smell of roses. He was frozen in that moment with his eyes out of the window, staring blindly at the complex and twisting road. With every breath he pulled in more of her sent until he could place the undertone of a rushing sound. It was her blood he heard and slowly, though he tried his damnedest to fight, he slowly succumb to her and slowly moved closer and closer; his mouth lowering towards her neck as his hyper-focused on a particular vein that protruded with the way her neck was turned.

"We're going over there," She points to a gathering of lights around a set of water colloms that rose from the lake,

"That's where I live."

"And you said you have connections with them?" Addy clarified as they made the second bend, the car clearly heading down hill now, the edges of the cliffs slowly rising above them.

"Yeah." She shrugged. "I mean, I wouldn't know why they would be mad."

Her voice reflects her own run through of thoughts before she ends with a shrug of her shoulders. "It's been…. I think a good six months and everyone's still here."

She smiles, and moves away from Murphy who was by now close enough to bite her and moves far enough away where he loses the delicate scent and the intoxicating rushing lullaby. Correcting himself quickly, he fixes his clothing and lands back in his seat just in time to see Hector eyeing him suspiciously from the rear view mirror.

What Hector nor Addy would see though, was that in the cover of night when the road had flattered and the houses were close, her hand clasped Murphys tightly as she exclaimed how excited she was to finally be home.

...

Home…

Home is where people love you.

Home is where people are happy to see you.

Home is where if something horrible happened to you and you were gone for a very long time, home is the first place you'd go.

Set on the road that to one side had a overhanging cliff and the other was a seep drop, a large, slanted door blocks their way in a build that looked as if when it were opened, it would brush who ever on the path, off the side. This reason is why Ember told them to stop so far from the door and why those who appeared on the top of the build didn't come down to the path. There were four of them and one thing that would be quickly noted, that they all looked like those you'd used to find late at night outside thrash metal concert halls and various city spots.

"Who are you?" One male, with a spiked mohawk yells out of the barrier, the metal spikes of his heavy leather jacket reflecting off the headlights of the vehicles waiting.

"I got this." The back window slides open and Ember pushes herself out of the car.

"I'm back, bitches." She yells.

"Eyyyyyy!" The man exclaims and rifle were lowered and voices now spoke in surprise.

"Let us in!"

The gates were opened and the two vehicles slowly entered, Embers name carried through the air faster than they could drive.

A bell rings outside the car and Ember turns to the party with a smile. "Ready for fame?

That night, Ember would be welcomed back with a heros party that would include those that she told had saved her. Right away there were hands being shaken and hugs being had and very fast after that, drinks handed out. It was all so odd to the newcomers, as it appeared that the apocalypse had affected them more than they thought. Warren, 10K and Hector would keep their heads on a swivel, Addy flinched at fast contact and Doc tried to pull together his old charismatic structure with far more trouble than he remembered ever having before. Of course, this was picked up assaviors themselves were very stiff and seemed very stressed. At first, they kept looking around, kept alert and aware but in time that would fade just enough within the blanket the warmth of generosity and acceptance. No one asked them to remove their guns, and it was noted that each member of the town carried two weapons each. A knife of some size, and gun of some sort. Nothing was asked about their pasts and nothing questioned about who they were and instead, thanks were given by the boatloads and soon, not long after their arrival, it seemed other towns started visiting with the same warmth and thanks as the place they were in.. Sets. They were called, Sets, Ember had called them.

That night they ate fresh cow and chicken that was cooked over a fire that they would all join around come night time. That night there were two main fires, a warm and beer happy cooking fire, and the loud, music drumming dance party under the light of the ridiculously tall bond fire. The houses were made of tin and stone, and there were horses and sheep and pigs scattered in pens. There were even crops. There was life here… A settled life and for the first time in a long, long time, things for Operation Bite Mark felt safe.

But although there was a happiness and a joyous tone, at one point Murphy would look over at Ember to see her frowning. She looked sad as she looked around for a figure she couldn't find. Maybe a few people. He didn't know… and even though these moments came in flashes in the crowd of joyous cheer, he still saw the flicker shake through her and he found himself looking out into a lake of faces that he didn't know a single one of, as if he were to find her missing persons.

That night they would eat and drink, and after finding himself quite buzzed, Murphy found himself pulling out of the crowd that encompassed everyone else. He stumbled once...maybe twice as he moved to the outer circle of the festivities. He sees Warren with her glassy eyes, and he smirks as her head drops her heavy drunken neck onto Hectors shoulder as Hector took another shot with some of the towns people with a casual laugh and easy take. He found Doc smoking Z weed with townspeople and had even seemed to make a few elderly aged friends. Addy was with a guy and a group of girls he didn't know, as 10K….. Murphy looked around and found the boy sitting on a table already watching him. He flinches when he finds that dark stare and judging by everything the boy looked like, Murphy guessed that he had been staring at him for at least the last few minutes.

Finally out of the crowd he pulls away and leans against a what looked like a tin built shop and leaned against the wall watching outwards. He watches the degenerates who he once smirked at ruling the apocalypse now. Their mohawks and dreads, their tattooed arms.. He shook his head at the _youth_ who danced to roudy music and took another sip of his heavy booze.

"Hey."

A light hand touches his arm and Ember appears at his side, a shot in each hand, one being pushed towards him, "Here. You need to relax."

Now in her true form, when they first arrived she had vanished with a small pack of girls for a few long minutes to change from the left over maids style clothing for who she really was. Tightly wrapped boots under camo cargo pants, she wore a black tank top under a black leather, spiked and patch decorated leather jacket with a hood. Her hair was done in a way where it still looked messy, but more intentional like. He'd give her this moment of observation for only a few seconds before speaking up.

"I wish I could." He gruffed as he looked around the towns center again, ignoring 10K whose heated glare he could now feel as the boy continued his heavy stare.

"Come on." She urges, pressing the shot glass she held in her good hand at him.

He looks at her, then at the drink, then at her again, and then he sighs and takes the shot.

"To luck?" She offered.

"To a safe night."

She smiled and the shot glasses were lightly clinked before each is emptied of its strong, throat burning liquid. He couldn't help but glance at her damaged hand as the knuckle based wounds flashed in the light as she lift the glass.

"Jesus christ." Murphy almost coughed up vomit. "What is that?"

"Good ol, dirty moonshine."

"You've got quite a set up here." He'd say as he glanced down at her with a side view.

She sighed and crossed her arms as she leaned next to him against the building ."It's good to be home."

He'd smirk and bump against her but stalled when he felt her lean back. She stayed, even when his hand landed on the small of her back, she didn't move away and Murphy told himself within himself, that he needed to calm down as he felt his heart pick up as the sound of rushing blood invaded his attention. The heat was rising again, he could smell the edge of her scent.

"Something's bothering you." He'd say when he noticed her frowning again.

She looked around before leaning against him fully and obviously as the drink took over and her arms fell to her sides.

"There's just.. Some people I haven't seen…" She shook her head as she rubbed her forehead. "But there is more people now than when I left, so, that's the best part. The compound is bigger now… They've finished the center, built more houses.. Shops…. It's great."

He watched her before sighing and giving her a push with his already placed hand.

"Go ask someone."

"No.." She shook her head. "It's not the right time."

"You don't know if they're dead."

Murphy looked around and took count as of many people of his team as he could, and then he saw Warren talking to Doc and pointing upwards towards what he could see was the radio tower. She'd turn and look right at him.

"Heads up." He whispered to her as Warren started towards them, choosing not to move when he noticed she hadn't moved away either.

"Hello." Ember greeted Warren when she was close enough lulled eyed and clearly intoxicated.

"Hi." Warren returned. "How are we doing over here?"

"We're good," She dropped her head against Murphy as he raised his eyebrows at Warren who passed him a glance.

"Is that the radio tower?"

Ember looked over at the tallest tower and shrugged. "That would be a great guess."

A moment of straight faced silence passed and Ember would cast a tried smile. "Yeah. It is. Come on."

She'd bring them through the crowd with Murphy right on her side. She'd say hello to a few that they passed and would introduce people who would stare at Murphy then back to Ember but wouldn't ask anything about the oddity.

"It's good to have you back, Exclaims one man.

"You have to talk to Carrien!" An older woman exclaimed.

"I will." She promises, "I'll be back in a few I just got to show these guys something."

There were lots of, welcome backs. There were lots of smiles and raised drinks. It took them longer to get to the tower than expected but Ember refused to rush or be rude but eventually, she'd bring them up the metal welded steps and crack the door open. Through the first floor, up the stairs and outside of a closed wooden door on the second floor she stops and knocks on the door.

"Come in!" A voice rings out from the inside and she smiles and pushes open the door.

"Atlas!" Ember exclaims as her entire form lights up light the sun.

The man at the desk is out of the chair and had his arms around Ember before his headphones touched the desk. Murphy wouldn't realize his fist was clenched, but Warren does, and with an elbow to Hector who stands at her side, he does too.

"Everyone, this is Atlas.. My very best friend." She smiled at him and he smiled at her, a sudden brightness they didn't know she was easy to make.

"Atlas, my friends….and the people who got me off that truck."

"That's been the biggest answer I've heard all night." The taller, Irish built young man smirked a handsome smile. "You guys got her away from that asshole, huh?' He smiled and extended his hand, starting with Doc.

"We all had a part. I'm Doc and this is 10K."

10K doesn't extend his hand but gives a small twitch of his head.

I'm Warren." Warren picks up quickly and shakes his hand in 10Ks place.

"Hector."

"Addy."

"Murphy."

Of course, Atlas stops on in the blue dyed man. But still, even he doesn't ask.

"Do you think we could use this room for a bit? We'll catch up later"

"Of course,. Right. Let me just... " He reached behind him and grabbed a bag and pushed in a notepad and a few personal artifacts. "I'm going to get a drink and something to eat. Be good."

He had to have been hungry because he didn't waste a minute or make an excuse, and Warren would close the door behind him and give a smile to Ember.

"Thank you." She says to which Ember gives a friendly nod and gestures towards the desk chair.

She takes the seat and Ember slips back into the crowd the surrounds her, backing up until she steps right on Murphys toe. She took her foot away quickly but that would be all her movements and went he went to sit on the desk, his fingers grazed her leg as she now stood beside him.

"Warren, to Citizen Z." Warren spoke into the mic as she twist the dial. "Warren, to Citizen Z."

"Citizen Z to Warren!" The familiar voice cackled over the speaker. "It's good to hear you again, Operation Bite Mark. And so clear!"

Murphy heard Embers breath catch in her throat and felt the weight of her fingers wrapping in the fabric of his coat. Clearly trying to be as private as he could, he glanced down at her and nodded his head.

"Yes!" Warren let out a relieved breath. "It's good to hear from you too."

They heard amuse laughing coming in, "I don't think I've heard you guys this clear for a long time. Where.. Where are you?"

"We found an encampment."

"Few miles outside Las Vagas."

"You found us?"

"Locked in right now. How is everyone? Do you still have the package?"

"That's..." Neither her nor Ember could see Warren from her seat at the radio desk but they could hear her voice wary. "Yes, we do. And we need you to take down the reward call. It's gotten us into a sort of mess.."

"What sort of mess?"

"It's hard going incognito when your man sticks out like a thumb tack, Citizen Z. But there is something else I need to talk to you about."

"Anything." He asked but Warrens finger wouldn't make it to the clicker before Ember spoke up.

"I want to talk to him."

The group looked back at them to see that she had taken a step closer, Murphy, still behind her now crossed his arms and watched. "I want to talk to, Citizen Z."

Warren nodded her head slightly and lowered the mic onto the desktop, "Yes, mame."

They'd switch places and eyes would drop on Ember as the room loosened up with Warren, who sighed and picked to take a seat in the wooden chair next to the table Murphy leaned on.

"Citizen Z." She spoke at first timidly but after her message she straightened up.

"Whose this?"

"It doesn't matter. I need to ask you a question."

"Okay." She could hear him shrug. "What's up?"

"What do you know about Data 45."

A moment of silence. "Sorry, Nameless, did you just say, Data 45?"

"Correct."

"Personally..nothing… But, I have access to any database you could want so, give me a minute."

"OKay." She sighed before leaning back in the chair, still ignoring the eyes of the silence room behind her.

"Well.. lets see… First mention, government paperwork that spans back to…..wow...1941…. Hang on.. There's a lock.. Just let me…. bipass this… and… Bingo."

A silence followed before a small, "wow" comes over the air.

"Do you have it?" She asked into the hand piece.

"Umm.. yeah.. Yeah, sorry. What do you need to know.

"I need you to tell me who the first signature on the Fallis Deal contract is."

"That would be…. Doctor, Riktor…. Wait….. A German on the American side?….."

"Great. Now follow that geneology down to today and give me the name of the doctor working last."

"O...kay." She scrunched her eyebrows tightly as she listened.

"Doctor Petunia, Frazthar, head of… The American Department of Controlled Sickness…. That sounds like a subposition."

'Thats right. Now.. She should have a cloud save file under the name Visterband. Again, Visterband. Get into that for me?"

"This is some scavenger hunt…" The males voice commented. "Who are you?

"That's what I'm trying to figure out. Don't open the file when you get there.. Just tell me.

"Okay."

A moment of silence and then.

"I'm at the passwords… Anon, this is going to take me awhile."

"Three passwords in this order, are you ready? If you fuck this up the files are gone."

"Copy, Anon. I'm ready."

She took a deep breath and started the sequence of numbers with her eyes closed and at a rhythm that showed memorization.

"No Spaces. "51, 62, 80. Stop. Next, T, Tango. O, Oscar. M, Mike. O, Oscar. R, Rome. R, Rome. O, Oscar W, whiskey. Stop. Next. 7,4, 20,10, 7.

He repeats the message and she clears it with a sharp head nod and then says something because she forgot he can't see her.

"Citizen Z?

"Right." His voices crackles over the mic. "Umm.. There' a lot of stuff here."

"File Foreverland."

"Opened."

"One document. It's name is, Recipie of Death."

"Opened. What…. What is this…"

"That's my recipe. I need you to save that the world over."

"Your recipe?"

She's quite against the silence and weight of heavy eyes. She's quiet against the anticipation that rolls through the air. She thinks to herself for a long time as the speaker cackles, "hello" over and over.

"Anon, what do you mean, Your recipe? I repeat, what is this?"

Her hand tightened on the mic and she rocked her arm at the elbow slightly back and forth as she rest it on the desktop.

"Anon. Please respond. I'm copying this…..list downloading right now but I need to know what is it.. There's no name or title… Please respond."

Nothing. It was like she was frozen even though she moved slowly

"Anon!"

In a rush she pushes the mic down and slams it against the table and uses the force to push herself up and away from the desk.

"Anon!" She leaves citizen Z calling behind her and shuts the door behind with her departure.

Murphy looked around the room and Warren glared at him.

"Well." she pushed. "Go get her!"

So he did.

He followed out the front door as everyone else stayed behind, and Warren slid back into the chair, her eyes not leaving Murphy until he was completely through the threshold. He wouldn't have to look for long because he found her rather quickly, already waiting for him halfway down the empty hall.

"Ember."

"Shhh." She went to the left and opened an unmarked door and slid in, glancing at him as before she vanished behind the door.

Once through he'd find her already sitting on a large chest, her heels swinging and knocking the bin.

"What's going on?"

"You're going away." She said quietly before looking up at him. "I gave you my mixture and.." She sighed as she pushed off the chest and started towards a filing cabinet. "Look, you're going to leave tomorrow and take that to whoever you need to take it too."

She pulled out a black pouch and tossed it on the table, unzipping and pulling out what Murphy would notice as a simple based blood draw kit.

"What are you doing?"

"Citizen Z…. Has everything you guys need now. You contact him, he'll give everything your dream team needs to create the vaccine… If there isn't a team… Well, he can instruct you through the process.. maybe.." She connected plunger to tube and tube to needle before wrapping her arm in an elastic band. "And I'm giving you a sample of myself. Regardless of age, whoever you end up with will be able to take the antibodies from it so…"

She easily stuck the needle into her arm and withdrew the blood into the middle canister before easily removing the syringe and separating and locking closed the vial. Quietly she turned and looked at Murphy, taking a slow cautious step towards him.

"You'll come back for me though?" She extended the vial for him like someone extending a hand shake. "Promise me, I'll see you again."

His hand grabbed hers and slipped the vial from her fingers without losing his grasp on her hand. He looked at her as she looked at him and after a moment of silence he placed his other hand on her cheek and kissed her securely, a move she accepted openly. She'd kiss him back and step into his hold and against him but she's also the one to pull away moments grand is gripping his lapel with the secure grasp and when he'd look at her again he's nod his head yes.

" _We'll_ see you again."

She smiles and watches him slip the contained vial away into his pocket.

"Come on." She smiled, releasing his lapel as she turned him toward the door.

He'd follow her out and into the hall and back into the room the others were in. The others that looked at them right away.

"Good news." Addy smiled. "Citizen z found the next location."

Murphy rocks back on his heels and dove his hands in his pockets. "We leave tomorrow."

"Until then," Ember spoke up, landing a gentle hand on his back as she passed. "I can show you to your rooms and you guys can rest."

Before anyone could share gratitude a knocking came from the door which opened quickly after.

"Come on." Said a taller, well-dressed man and woman who both stepped into the room.

They watched the pair happily walk by and throw open the pair of balcony doors.

"Come on," The woman said, "it's your party."

Together the group gathered on the balcony and the man raised his mic to his mouth.

"Everyone, everyone.." The crowded quieted and the band died down. "Years ago we were blessed with Ember, who came and protected us against the evil scourge of earth's final say. She was taken from us.. Far away and by horrible people when we promised to protect herself and for that…. I'm sorry…" He had turned right to ember to say his apologies and she smiles and nodded.

"And to our new friends." The man waved his arm over the group she stood with, "Who unselfishly saved our savior and even more, brought her back to us. You will be remembered into the ages and always welcome here. The best thing we can say is…." He raised the glass and behind him raised the voices of the town.

"Thank you!"

The party continued below them and The man and woman motioned them back into the room.

"We personally want to thank you." The woman smiled as she looked around the group."

"We're quite joyous for this occasion. She…. She saved us…"

"And that's why I'm staying," She smiled as she landed beside the mayor. "But hopefully, they'll be back one day."

That night would continue planning. There would be drinking and clinging too. There was bright conversation. Operation Bite Mark would eat foods they hadn't eaten in so long with people who were warm and acted just as sharing with their booze. Music is played early into the morning by live interments and not once did any of the many guards see any of zombies for the first time in a little over six months.

Eventually, the flame party would die away as people slipped away into the silence of sleep. Windows were again dark and the streets were quiet but when Ember showed Murphy his room last they wouldn't come out for a good while. She'd advance on him first in the blackness of the room and would act in secrecy under the blanketing of the sheets. She fueled his promise to her by making her his obsession. He'd feel the heat of her touch on his skin for the next few days and would carry her scent in the back of his mind. He had her **bandanna** , the purple band she was wearing around her thigh. He had taken her blood in the bandanas threads which he kept secret in his breast pocket.

He'd see her again, he'd think to himself as he watched out the window of the van. His elbow on the edge, his thumbnail between his teeth.

He would.


End file.
